Steak tenderer



.June 9, 1931. H H.' HART STEAK TENDERER 4 Filed April 24. 1929 '2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Jun' 9, 1931*;

l H. H. HAHT 1,809,165

STEAK TENDERER Filed April 24. 1929 :2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented .lune 9, v'1937.1'

HARRY H. naar, or SACRAMENTO, ammonium, :Assienon To HAR'rfs A74Inc.. or

" long and thin ywithout danger of bending. v I have also arranged the Amounting vo'fthe Itok provide an apparatus for the' purpose parts pas: will 'fully appear aperusali of SACRAMENTO,

Application med april-g4,

which are' especially foundfin the'cheaper v cuts of meatand Awhich dov notlbeconie'softf ened or'rendered morey tender andV palatable bycooking.Y f j nl rllhe principal object of the invention is especially vintended iior restaurant kitchen use having cutting elements so. arranged that the'. fibers' Aof the `ineatwvill be severed y and cut into very'- small Vlengths throughout `:practically the entire area `of theineat, with- 'out destroying-4 the 'unita-ry character of the piece of meat being so treated;l

A Jfurther object of 4the Vnnfention isgt'o provide the machine with ayineansrfor auto@ o l a 3 1s ayplatev 4L" 'havinga` pair `ofy opposedA up'- inatically causing the -cutting elements tol be disengaged,from the meat after they have 'been forced through :the sama' and whichv also serves as a guard "andguidingg means :for thefeuttersfso that they'may be made cutters inl such a manner that :they maybe e'a'sily'jand ndividuallyfreinoved for `sharp ening or replacement at' any time. A; lfurtherobject ofthe vinvention is to produce na simplev andinexpensive device and yet one which will be lexceedingly effective for Y the purpose orfwhich it is' designed. f These objects l". accomplishby'zmeans .of such struc'tureand relative "arrangeinent of the following specification and" clains. Y o

In the drawings similar ch ractersofreference indicate corresponding 'parts inthe several-views: *n t Fig. 1 isa perspective view of the appara Fig. isa transverseV vertical-section.'of

caminante STEAK TENDERER the sainesho-wing a piece ofy meat las" engaged with. the cutters.

F ig. fis a fragmentary enlarged view Vof the cutter supporting plate v v Y,

Fig.' 4 `is `a'perspectve viewof a cutter detached y n f y. Fig' 5 is@ frgmmltry:perspective-view plate thereon ypartly broken away;

of the cutter supporting plate with th'efcover Referring now more particularlyto characters of reference, on! theldrawing'sthe' f te'r' supporting plate 2,l and toward* their bars lower ends theyfare 4connectedv by` side standing sidewalls sec'ured theretovwhose vertical end edgesl are guidedlr byr vertical grooves 6` provided in the adjacentfaces of the posts.

ynioved-frornthe top-of said posts :when the plate Qis removed; 'i f The side-Walls supportthe'nieat table 7,

Disposed betweenthep'osts above the bar lnurneral Y l -denotes-Sthe vertical corner -p'ost's Y Thesegroovesextend from /the'vbars to the top of the posts so thatt-he sidewalls maytb'elpl'aced 'in position' or rei the sides of 'which preferably extend` to the 'outside yofthe posts AandVwh'oseY corners are notched to slidably tit about said-"posts This i i i table is provided with a pluralityfofrelatively narrow yslots 8"disposed Aii'fixzlose. parall lel relation to each 'otherV and extendingvover thel'inajor portion of thev areaof the table.

sidewalls.V

. The longitudinal `p'lane'of the'slots is pref-v i' lera'blyV fatlrilghtangles tothe planeofi the g5 Y iS knife guarding and `meat depressing Y plate 9 whh'tendsto drop'of'ts own weight but is prevented from doing so more than a predetermined distance belowV the plate 2 by stops projecting from theposts. This plate is also provided with slots 11 of the same number and size as the slots 8 and arranged in vertical alinement therewith.

ward movement of the knives.

The plate 2 also has a similar number of similarly disposed slot-s 12, the upper portions of which are enlarged as to width, as shown at 12a.V Knives 13 project through the lower narrow portions of the slots 12 so as to depend below the supporting plate a certain distance; These knives are provided with individual heads llijpreferably in the form of=inverted U-shaped saddles secured thereon and which fit inthe wide upper lation to those of adjacent slots. -The length .of the knives relative tothe normal positioning of the plate9 is such that Athe points .of the vknives then project only part way through the plate. I This enables the operator to placethe meat on the table below kor wipe off the table without danger of being cut. This arrangement also prevents vthe points of the relatively weak and flexible knives being bent so as not to properly engage the table slots when the table is raised. Further it is t0 be understood that the width of the slots is such as to just freely receive the knives therethrough, so that said slots, `form guides for the knives at all times. The knives are held from upward displacement, while at the same timevbeing rendered readily accessible for removal when,necessarybymeans of a cover plate 15 superimposed onand secured to the plate j 2, said cover bearing against the upper ends ouf all the knifeheads.

.'To;raise -Mthetable a lever 16 isv pivoted intermediate its ends in connection with the front bar `3.' I The outer end of thisrlever, which is.l1orizontal when the Vtable is loweredis formed as a handle of suitable shape as indicated at 16a,- while'the opposite end projects under the plate ,4 and preferably has a rollerl'` thereon which then yengages' l the platetoward its rear end.` This arrangement, as will be obvious, enables the table Y to'be raised-by depression of the handle end of the lever.

At the same time the lever not' beingv directly connected.` to the plate l enables saidp'late andtable to be removed as' a unit for cleaning Without having to uncouple the same from the lever.

In operation the piece of meat 18 to be treated (which of course is a boneless piece such as round-steak) is placed on the table 7 with its fibers running crosswise of the slots. The lever is then depressed so as to raise the table until the meat engages the plate 11. A further raising of the table causes said plate to be raised with the table, the latter being notched as at 19 where necessary to avoid interference with the stops 10.

The knives then protrude below the raised guard plate and project through the meat and through the table slots, as shown in Fig.- 2, thus eifectually cutting the various tough fibers in the meat, as will be evident.

Due to the great number of knives preferably used and their staggered relation to each other the unitary condition of the piece of meat is not destroyed, while at the same time the various Viibers are cut into such small lengths as to be unnoticeable by the person eating the meat. The relatively great length of the knives and the subsequent easy slope or taper which they may have and which causes the cutting action to be of a properly shearing nature, is made possible by the guard and guiding plate 9, and renders the cutting operations positive and easy kwithoutdanger of tearing the mea-t rather than cutting the same.

Upon lowering'the table after the cutting action has taken place the plate 9 bears down of its own weight against the piece of meat throughout the extent of the same.V vThis acts to hold the meat against the table and allows the same to be withdrawn clear of the knives without danger of catching. AsI soon as the said plate 9 reaches the stops itis of course held from further down'- .ward movement and upon the table itself reaching its -lowermost position the meat is well clear of said plate and can be easily withdrawn and another piece placed thereon for treatment. The distance between the table and plate 9 when they are in their normal positions is` suiiicient, to allow the placing andl removal of the meat to be easily accomplishedl without cramping, while the distance between the table and the plate 4 therebelowisfsuflicient to enable the latter to be used as an initial support'for a number of steaks to be treated if so desired. i

As before stated the removable mounting of the top cover and the knife Vsupporting plate not only enables the knives themselves to be easily removed whenever necessary but also enables the guide plate and the table unit toy be removed from the. supporting framework of the machine for cleaning when desired. j Y j From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that Ihave produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set yforth herein. i

` While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as dol mountedin connection with'the knife supporting plateand yengaging the upperen'ds 'i ofthe knife heads toprevent upward movement of' the knives.

5. meat tenderer including aplurality of vertically disposed downwardly facing knives, a pair of verticallyspaced tables under the knives, the upper table being slotted to receive the knives therethrough, means connecting the tables together as a unit,

ment relative to the knives, andy means applied to the lower tablefor raising the uni 1 In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HARRY H. HART.

and normally spaced therefrom, a member.

permanently mounted with the knives arranged to normally guard and cover the ypoints of the knives and movable relativek thereto in a direction parallelto the table, and means for moving the table toward the knives and guard to engage and move the latter to enable the knives to then project through the slots.

2. A meat tenderer including ak meat sup-*- porting table providedjwith a plurality of slots, a plurality of knives mounted in planes at right langles andv in normally spaced relation to the table, said knives being alined with the slots, means for moving the table toward the knives toy cause the latter to penetrate a piece of meat placed on the table and to project therethrough into the slot, and a commonmeans lfor guarding and covering the outer ends of the knives when the table is spaced therefrom and for pressing the meat clear of thel knives after the meat has been engaged therewith by the movement of the table toward the, knives and Vwhen the vtable is moving in the *opposite direction.V

A -meat tenderer including a meat supporting table provided with a plurality of f slots, a plurality of pointed knives valined with the slots at right angles to the table and normally spaced therefrom, a plate having slots alined with the table slots and 'movable lengthwise ofthe knives to and from the table, and means limiting the movement of theplate towardthe tableso that normally the outer ends 'only of the, y

knives are engaged by the plate rslots andv only partially project therethrough.

4. In a meat tenderer, a horizontal knife p y supporting vplate provided with a plurality of slots therethrough, the upper portions of i which are wide Arelative to their lower portions, a plurality of separatepointed knives projecting through the kslots inf depending relation to the plate, heads on lthe knives removably fitting the enlarged portion of Vthe slots in abutting relationto each other and limiting the downward movement of the knives anda removable cover plate I means'- guiding said unit `for vertical movej nir l ias 

